Yesterday evening I attended a talk by conservationist John Thakara (of Doors of Perception). The topic was “Creativity and Sustainability,” part of the Gray’s Art Institute “Value of Creativity” guest series. Thakara is, according to F., a representative of a particular scene in design and environmental issues – While not a scientist or an expert in the field of climate change or planning, he has played an international role of speaking for and with people in a variety of fields, bringing the issues forward and bringing groups of experts together on the same page about the same problems.
Thakara’s main push is encouraging those working in the “creative fiields,” or the “creative industry” to put their work to use, lending their skills to organizations already working on climate change and global distribution problems, particularly with small scale, local efforts. His point is that “It’s no use knocking on the doors of the big guys (by which he means large coorporations and institutions), but it won’t be too long before their knocking on ours.”
He got the point across. Nothing was said that was revolutionary, or that most people in the audiance did not already know or suspect. Yes, we’re in trouble. The crowd was mixed – mostly from RGU with some outsiders like us thrown in as well – a variety of specializations: design, communications, politics, engineering, business.
And most importantly for me, Thakara spent a considerable amount of time talking about the importance of small local actions, the importance of giving embodied time. Getting to local chapter meetings, getting thinking.
I am working on ways of giving more of my skills in more embodied and engaged ways – in the world. I ahve found myself in a faily isolated and apolitical setting, working on isolated and only theoretically political topics. Important? perhaps. But not enough. I am not above learning how to work harder, hearing how to use my hands, as it were.
This space will be a part of that turn for me. In future posts I will be using this space to begin thinking responsibly about change and contribution, even if it means simply working through some reflections and dilemmas here – on paper, virtually.
Some further and future reading:
Jared Diamond – Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
George Monbiot – Heat
Al Gore – An Inconveniet Truth
Richard Bookstaber – A Demon of Our Own Design
Italo Calvino – Six Memos for the Next Millenium
Nicolas Bourriaud – Relational Aesthetics
Howard Rheingold – Smart Mobs
Alex Steffen – Worldchanging
Vlijoen&Bohn – Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes
John Thakara – In the Bubble
Robert V. Levine – A Geography of Time
Luis Fernandes-Galiano – Fire and Memory
Richard Heinberg – Powerdown
William McDonough and Michael Braungart – Cradle to Cradle
David Holmgren – Permaculture
And some sources on the web….
Designs of the Time (Dott 07 Festival)
Stern, Monbiot, and the Tasks of Design
Solidarity Economics: Strategies for Building New Economies From the Bottom-Up and the Inside-Out
World Changing
Smart Mobs
The Arch Druid Report
The Oil Drum: discussions about energy and the future
